JonathanLB
Feb 17th, 2002, 12:18:33 AM
The Simpsons is just as good as ever, although I have not had the time or memory to watch it this year. College is not like before where I actually had a structured schedule and knew what was going on when, now I don't care what day of the week it is and I don't have much of a schedule.
When I was in college, I didn't have class Thursdays, didn't have class early any day, so Sunday night, heck, I forgot what time it was mostly. I started missing The Simpsons like every week because of that, which is kind of frustrating.
Now, I only pay attention to what day of the week it is because I have to remember if it's a Tuesday, it's DVD day, if it's a Friday, I should be in the theater. Other than that, who cares what day of the week it is? Tuesday, Saturday, Thursday, whatever. They're all 24 hours long, they're all days off, and I can do whatever I want on any of those days so it really doesn't concern me :)
"*Groan* it's a Monday again." Monday's are equally as good as Fridays except that no new movies open on Monday, but you have Tuesday to look forward to with new releases on DVD :)
Ahhhh... college/work/school all suck, I much prefer being able to do whatever the heck I want.
ReturnOfTheCB
Feb 17th, 2002, 12:47:33 AM
Originally posted by JonathanLB
Now, I only pay attention to what day of the week it is because I have to remember if it's a Tuesday, it's DVD day, if it's a Friday, I should be in the theater. Other than that, who cares what day of the week it is? Tuesday, Saturday, Thursday, whatever. They're all 24 hours long, they're all days off, and I can do whatever I want on any of those days so it really doesn't concern me :)
I hate you...I really, really hate you :D j/k
Ahhhh... college/work/school all suck, I much prefer being able to do whatever the heck I want.
I know the feeling....I considered joining a hippie commune, but I don't know if they allow TV or not :D And I'm sure they don't endorse Starbucks...
Just curious, are you still in college, or what are you doing now?
JonathanLB
Feb 17th, 2002, 07:46:07 AM
I have talked with a friend at Stanford whose sister is thinking of starting up a commune along with 20 other people who apparently are interested too. LOL. That would not be for me.
As for my situation. Let me just start about eight months ago so it sort of makes sense, although this is really long because it has been so long it seems like since I have talked to you much and whatnot, good to see you back of course. :) I hate having people just kinda go missing.
Well, I guess it was at the end of March or very start of April that I received the rejection letters from both USC and UCLA. Now, my college counselor told me I had a 95% chance at USC and I really thought I was in because the four students who were accepted each had lower GPA's (by far in some cases) and lower SAT scores. I am not sure if it had to do with me sending my application in the last week or if it was just one of those college flukes, but I didn't get in. I even challenged/appealed their decision, same with UCLA, because I thought in the case of USC it must have been a mistake or something. I had assumed I would get rejected from UCLA, though, no big disappointment although I did really want to be there. It's such an interesting school with so much to do, huge campus, great food on campus, very nice area, certainly looked nice to me.
On April 23, 2001 I think it was, I got my contract with my literary agent. That was THE LAST very good thing that has happened to me and since then, it's been problem after problem more or less with a few days or a few hours here and there that actually were nice or went well. Like a few rays of sunshine piercing the clouds, so to speak. ;)
Because after that, I waited eagerly in the next few months to hear from a publisher and we (agent and I) expected to have a book deal by possibly early June, even when I graduated on the third day of June maybe, but the time passed and nothing. So I assumed surely it would come in June or at the worst, July. But we got a few rejections and that was about it. In July, Leonard Maltin endorsed my book, but we still got a few more rejections after that and a final, kind of crushing blow in September. By late July, though, my own writing had slowed down remarkably because I was kind of depressed in general. Somewhat because of my first book's lack of success up to that point, somewhat because of a few other factors that will just go unmentioned, hehe.
The first book has no publisher and that process has concluded until we try again perhaps after I get a deal with my second book, on DreamWorks SKG. I am awaiting word from the studio right now, after talking to a PR director on the phone and sending her some information on the book. It's only been three business days. So I think she is going to run it by the people in charge and see if this project would interest them, allowing me to get those interviews I need and certainly guaranteeing me a publisher. Pretty much, although it may seem silly to say, that book would help cure everything that has gone wrong currently. All it would take is a phone call or an e-mail and I'd be totally set... So close, but so far, that is how it has seemed for a long time now though (with the first book I felt like I was close every day, then the excitement started wearing off I guess...).
The reason the first book's lack of success even further ruined my spirits was because I didn't want to go to this Loyola Marymount University. I had thought of taking a year off from college to pursue my writing if the first book had a deal anytime before, say, July 15 or in the summer in general. I kind of had a bad feeling about LMU, but I got a worse feeling as time passed. I started reading a few articles that indicated students have been unhappy here in high numbers and I was just pretty worried I'd hate college, at least, LMU. So of course, the option of taking a year off seemed to disappear as my first book's chances also seemed to disappear. Both were frustrating.
I went to LMU in late August and I'd say it was about three weeks before I started to dislike it, but I wanted to keep a positive attitude. I wanted to say, "Ok, let me give this a fair chance at least, it deserves a year before I really pass judgment and decide to leave or stay." Well... it didn't take more than about a few weeks before I had decided I wanted out after the first year. I never had alcohol during high school, I was very much against it because, well, just not interested and I didn't want to betray my parents' trust or anything. Of course, at LMU, different story. Everyone drinks, I wanted to hang out with these guys, the few people I knew, and they were all drinking so I thought, "Hey, what the heck." It wasn't peer pressure because I didn't do it "to be cool" or "fit in," I just did it because at that time I made the choice that a few drinks wouldn't hurt me. Of course, a few became about 12 shots of vodka and that is WAY too much for a guy who weighs only 140 pounds and is 5'10". So I threw up like 10-14 times I think, I seemed to count about 12 (surprised I remembered), and I got fined $250 for various things, $50 for the incident plus I just took a $200 fine instead of doing Alcohol 101 (not worth my time really).
After that, I was pretty obviously in a bad situation at this stupid place. I didn't hang out with those guys ever since then pretty much (September 21, very early in the year). I just stayed at my own place and focused on my work, bought VinDieselWorld.com sometime in September. The site is making me $200 monthly now (I bought it for $250). Then in October, I began using my time to think of a more major deal that would really put me on the map as a Webmaster, something that could make serious money. So I spent perhaps 45 to 50 hours on looking into one site, but my deal fell through after the Webmaster didn't want to sell at $18,000 (he should have done it; good deal for him). Then I came up with another deal, this time for $25,000 to acquire FreeFunJokes.com and Ezzzy.com
In retrospect, I overpaid by about four times because I could have that humor site built for me at not a huge cost and buy a good newsletter for it. That's hardly the point, though. I'm still doing alright with it. Been taking in a solid $2,000 to $2,300 per month. The problem has been high overheads. Large hosting fees, both for the newsletter and the site, interest payments (borrowed half from my dad at 10% interest and also made him a 50% partner, the other $6,500 was my own), etc. So the actual profit is not that wonderful, or not what I wanted at all (expected was $4,000 per month).
Now, of course, I find out that the site is full of copyright infringements and whatnot from some material that the previous Webmaster put on the site that was obviously the work of other people who held the copyright. I have removed everything I was asked to remove. Still, I'm in the process of rebuilding. I'm taking most of my profits now and putting them into buying exclusive flash movies at a rate of two per week, $40 each, and then I'll be taking my own photos for the site so that in three months, the site will be entirely unique and full of exclusive content. It'll probably be able to become much more popular after that move too, but then I'm going to take my newsletter and throw out the inactive e-mails, spend probably $1,500 on building a new list, and that'll be that. An expensive three month overhaul but entirely necessary.
I have managed to cut costs extensively and will continue to do so with another move in late March. To make the long story of cutting costs short, I could be looking at a monthly total of only $210 in expenses by April for every Website I own and operate instead of my current total of about $900.
I am launching JLBMovies.com within one week of today, or at least, I am pretty sure it'll be up by then. The site's DNS settings have already been changed, so if you go there now you'll see GoDaddy.com's "free parking" type of information, but within 24-48 hours you will see a test version of the Website that will be launched pretty soon. I've spent $1,750 on it and its newsletter of 65,000 subscribers.
So, all of this business that I started majorly in October obviously took a lot of time, but that was fine; college took hardly any time. I still got a 3.85 in my first semester, which majorly pissed me off because I had an A- in two classes where I should have had A's, but that is seriously how it has been going lately, everything just comes in under par. Oh well, can't happen forever, but it's a series of coincidences I had wished to avoid :) Plus, A- work isn't awful, it's just I deserved A's and I am unhappy with anything short of the best in easy classes...
So I came back to LMU (my college) here in Los Angeles on January 15. I really dreaded coming back. I had a pretty nice x-mas break really, got to hang out with this Liz girl a few times and we hadn't really hung out before alone (she had a boyfriend last summer anyway, but they broke up when college started). Also my best friend and a friend of his and I made this parody movie with my new Canon XL-1S digital camcorder. That was really fun, hehe, pretty absurd film but it'll be funny at least. It's title is "Ten Things I Hate About Powder "(two titles mixed, although we really only parody Powder!).
So I kind of jokingly said I wish I didn't have to go back to LMU at all, because I know how much it is going to suck yet again. I made every effort to hang out with people down there but a number of things went wrong. First, when I told Nathan, John, and some other guys to let me know when they go do something fun or go to dinner, do they ever call me? No. When I ask even on the same day what is going on, do they tell me what they're doing? Nope. So that never worked out. The two coolest guys I met, Juan and Paul, live 30 minutes from campus. What do you think they do on weekends? Yes, they go home. So that leaves nothing to do for me. LMU was ranked 19th in LEAST happy students / lowest student morale out of 331 colleges (see www.review.com and type in Loyola Marymount University). If you don't want to get drunk every night, LMU offers very little.
Anyway, I hated the classes too. They were a waste of my time except my awesome philosophy class. But this semester, I got teachers telling me that if I miss TWO classes, I'd drop a letter grade. Ok, this is college, this is not high school anymore. At least, that was my impression. I don't want to be treated like a little kid when I'm a competent and intelligent adult working on my own here. That was just not going to cut it.
Because of my general unhappiness and the $10,000 cost per semester here, I decided to withdraw from LMU three days into second semester. I didn't feel it was worth my time or my money anymore and I do not pay to be depressed constantly. Good lord, I've not been that depressed since sophomore year and at least then I had friends around me, but it was just a homework issue. This time, it was everything!
So, now I am taking 7 months off (8 total including what I already got off) to pursue my online business (businesses?) and my writing career. In all honesty I am hoping to be making enough by next October so that I don't have to return to college whatsoever, although I promised my mom that I would return and I will always hold to my word. So, if I am doing well enough, I just may not stay for more than another few terms or maybe a year. I am not liking the whole situation with classes and with homework and lectures and tests. You know, I was bad at that in 4th grade, then I started improving within one month and in 5th grade, I was doing well. Then I had mastered the game in high school, and that is all it is -- a game. So now, I'm really tired of playing that game. I already won it many times over. I know how to get A's, I know how to take tests, but I want new fields to conquer and I need to be challenged. Not challenged in terms of "how much time can you spend on homework per day and still keep your sanity?!?" but challenged as in, how can I make money while still doing what I love and succeeding? That's much more fun and a better pursuit as far as I'm concerned.
A recent friend of mine, Zac of Money Reign, Inc., has achieved amazing success online and he's obviously not the only one. He's looking at mid-five digit figures this month alone in revenue. More than half is profit. So, yes, he's looking at the several hundred thousand dollars per year bracket even after taxes. Plus, he is 20 years old. Went to college one semester, hated it, quit.
I don't like it either. I don't see why I need a degree to be an author or to conduct business online -- I already do both, liking what I do, don't really want to waste more money and more time on college unless/until I can find some good, convincing reason to return.
I know it's silly quoting a random person, but a friend of mine has an away message up right now and the final part of his message says: "Unless you can find a reason to do something that serves your needs or goals, DON'T DO IT." Well, that is how I feel. If I cannot discover that reason, then I cannot be true to myself and at the same time stay in college. It would be a violation of my integrity as a person because I would be doing it for the wrong reasons (for my parents, for society, not good reasons -- I should be doing it for myself).
I was going to be a film production major. You know what I learned at LMU? My own film teacher said that you don't need a degree to be in the film industry and she said she has never once been asked about it. Even though she said, "Yes it was a nice thing to have, but it was kind of a waste of money and time." It is a TOTAL waste for anyone who wants to be in film or whatever. If you want to be a doctor or lawyer, you need college, not if you want to be a filmmaker or a writer or a businessman (at least, if you work for yourself).
If my parents are really going to get upset at me for deciding to pursue my own interests, I will probably offer them one alternative. I'll tell them that I will go to AFI's 13 month film school, but that's it. I should have been advised to go there from the beginning. What I wanted all along was to do film and I was told, incorrectly, that college is where I could pursue that just as everyone is mindlessly drilled with: "COLLEGE IS THE ONLY WAY!" Not true at all, in fact, I was going to write a book titled "College: America's Biggest Lie." I'm still going to write a book on that subject but the focus has changed now (when I'm not angry, I don't think of such controversial titles, haha).
Why didn't someone tell me that there are some great film schools out there that can teach you the craft in one to two years at most? I would have been interested in that. Why wasn't I informed? I feel cheated for that reason. All I was offered was one path: college. I am no sheep or lemming. I don't follow the marching band here, I make my own path and do what I feel is right, so I don't feel compelled to follow the herd and "get a real job," I am more interested in making my own path and never working a day in my life, just doing what I love instead.
Besides, AFI's film school is ranked way higher than LMU's on any list you will ever see. It's also cheaper. Even for their 13-month program it's like $18,000, while LMU is $20,000 per year!
I decided a few months ago I was finished with doing things I don't like to do anymore. Life it too short to spend my time unwisely like that. If I don't enjoy it, I will not be doing it unless it serves some clear goal and there is no better way. Obvious example is spending a few hours on a technical problem with a Website. Well obviously I don't enjoy that, but it's a rare situation and not the norm.
So that is what I am doing now, to answer your question, and I just wrote you my third book right here! Haha, j/k.
Basically, this is what I want to see by September 2002:
VinDieselWorld: $200/mo
JLBMovies: $1,500/mo
FreeFunJokes/ezzzy.com: $2,500/mo
That's enough for me, even when not taking into account the books I have written and am writing. Should make a bit on the side there, plus the sites always grow if you work at it.
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